In this issue

Natasha Paganin | Equestrian Captain

The SCOTS PGC Equestrian Team has settled back into their routines and is ready for the term ahead – and it’s going to be a busy one at that!

On the ANZAC long weekend, we had a team of riders head off to the Fairholme Show Jump and Dressage Interschool competition in Pittsworth. It was a great weekend and everyone did incredibly well in all of their classes with most achieving qualifiers for the Queensland State Championships. Congratulations everyone!

 This coming weekend, some of our riders are heading to the Interschool Queensland SEQ Reginal Championships in Caboolture, Warwick Hack & Pony Club Campdraft and Gymkhana and the Goondiwindi Show.  Best of luck to everyone competing this weekend.

Results from last weekend:

Fairholme College 2021 IQ Dressage and Show Jumping | 24-25 April

Show Jumping  (Saturday, 24th April 2021):

Secondary A2 50cm

Mia Bischoff – 5th

Secondary AM5 50 cm

Mia Bischoff – 2nd

Secondary A2

Phoebe Sellick – 1st

Lucy Jackson – 5th

Mia Bischoff – 8th

Felicity Hodges – 10th

Natasha Paganin – 13th

Natasha Paganin – 14th

Darcy Hodges – 16th

Hanaka Parker – 17th

Secondary AM5 70 cm (State Qualifier)

Mia Bischoff – 2nd

Darcy Hodges – 6th

Phoebe Sellick – 9th

Natasha Paganin – 10th

Natasha Paganin – 11th

Lucy Jackson – 13th

Hanaka Parker – 15th

Felicity Hodges – 16th

Secondary A2 80cm (State Qualifier)

Astrid Harrison – 15th

Gabrielle Sellick – 16th

Secondary AM5 80 cm (State Qualifier)

Gabrielle Sellick – 15th

Astrid Harrison – 17th

Secondary A2 90cm (State Qualifier)

Sophie Poole – 6th

Secondary AM5 90cm (State Qualifier)

Sophie Poole – 4th

Secondary A2 100cm (State Qualifier)

Jessica Angus – 4th

April Davies – 6th

Secondary AM5 100cm (State Qualifier)

April Davies – 2nd

Jessica Angus – 13th

Dressage (Sunday 25th April 2021):

Secondary Preliminary

Sophie Brennan – 1st

Jessica Angus – 2nd

Hanaka Parker – 4th

Astrid Harrison – 8th

Mr Stewart Bailey | Head of Junior Boys’ Boarding

There are “moments” in life when you feel such immense pride and joy, that words can hardly describe the moment.  The outstanding and kind behaviours displayed by our Junior boys this past week has left me feeling the need to share just how proud I am of your sons.

During the first week of this term, the boys have experienced some important College activities. The first of which, was the College ANZAC Dawn Service held last Friday morning, that was later followed by the Warwick Town Service on Sunday. You should all be very proud of your sons for the respectful manner they displayed at both services; they were a credit to themselves and the College.

The ANZAC Town March is one of my favourite events, and I look forward to it each year.  It provides us with an opportunity to publicly display the respect we have for all of those who have served and are still serving and it also shows our wider community who we are as a College.  It is so heart-warming to see your sons take such pride in their school. Marching alongside these young men, is one of the most rewarding parts of my job – not to mention, it truly is an impressive sight to see our students in uniform, proudly out in force.

The boys have settled well and are now back into their usual boarding routine.  We are working closely with the boys to ensure time is managed well so that a balance of school work and recreation activities are achieved.

This term promises to be just as busy as the last, and I look forward to catching up with you all over the course of the next few weeks.

David Marriott – Head of Senior Boys’ Boarding

It has been a smooth transition back into Hawkins House for our Senior Boys’ Boarders as Term 2 began with plenty of activity, including welcoming two new boarding students into the SCOTS PGC family.

While I am pleased to see the majority of boys again engaging well in their academic work and co-curricular activities, the obvious highlight of our first weekend was the College’s ANZAC Day Dawn Service. It was my first experience of this excellent commemoration (on a very cool Warwick morning) and I would like to congratulate and thank all involved on a wonderful event, in particular the Senior Boys’ Boarders, who embraced the entire service with respect.  The commemoration of ANZAC Day continued with the Warwick town service and march on Sunday, where our boys, once again presented extremely well and represented themselves, their family and the College in an excellent manner and spirit befitting SCOTS PGC students.

In addition, the combined Boarders Chapel service was conducted on Sunday evening, where all students (both girls and boys) again paid their respects in a solemn, respectful way before sharing in an excellent meal where further friendships developed.

A real highlight of every year at SCOTS PGC is the Cardinal (Saturday 8 May), and our boys are certainly looking forward to the celebration. As their preparations continue (with suit buying and dancing practice), I take this opportunity to wish all senior students a great night as they commemorate their final year at school.

Our Year 4 students shared their thoughts about the importance of ANZAC Day in a moving tribute captured on video which can be found on our College website.

Their responses bring a tear to the eye, but also reinforce why we teach our students the great significance of ANZAC Day and why it shall always remain an important day of remembrance.
Thank you to our Year 4 class for helping to put this short clip together.

Mrs Susan Everson | Head of Girls’ Boarding

We have literally hit the ground running in Term 2, with our first major event being the Inter-Clan Cross Country last week.  It was very pleasing to see our girls show their true College spirit and support their teammates and Clans.  Some of our boarding girls were successful on the day which then saw them participate in the Southern Downs/Border District carnival, which was held yesterday.  Congratulations girls and best of luck for your future events.

ANZAC Dawn Service at the College was a moving experience for everyone who attended.  Despite the very cold morning, it was wonderful to see the students participating in such a special service.  Our girls also then continued their remembrance by marching on Sunday with the wider College community in the Warwick Town Service.  Our girls and boys looked immaculate and represented the College very well.

As we close out our second week of the term, the busyness continues.  It is great to see the students here at SCOTS PGC take advantage of what’s on offer.  We would love to see all girls involved in at least one co-curricular activity throughout the week.  To facilitate this, we will be meeting with boarders who are yet to choose an activity during Week 3 and 4, to provide some extra guidance and assistance.

In the boarding house, room changes have brought a positive atmosphere to the house – the girls have embraced the change.  We’ve introduced some activities that encourage the girls to mix with others at dinner and free time, which is particularly important, as this term, we have introduced two new boarders to our home.  We are now a sisterhood of 55 girls – Welcome ladies!

Here’s to another busy term ahead!

Mr Richard Dobrenov | Deputy Principal and Head of Senior School

Martin Seligman’s investigations into social and emotional wellbeing established a new focus that concentrated on embracing positivity in our lives as opposed to the traditional investigations into conditions such as depression and anxiety. Seligman’s PERMA model states that Positivity comes from being Engaged in an activity that allows us to formulate Relationships which then provide us with Meaning and purpose to Achieve.

In part, I disagree with Seligman and see the most important aspect as the establishment of positive Relationships which provide the opportunity for Engagement in an activity. Once engaged in an activity the student will discover Meaning and purpose to what they are doing, try their best and then Achieve. By being Engaged, trying their best and then Achieving, they feel good about themselves and experience Positivity. We have also been developing the notion of “Team SCOTS PGC” and the fact that successful teams challenge each other but most importantly – “Look after one another.”

A recent article in The Irish Times highlighted a study performed in Irish Schools which discovered that the loss of informal play had led to a sharp deterioration of physical and fine motor skills in children, compared to those studied a decade previously. Of concern, was the fact that skills generally mastered by six year olds were now out of reach of many thirteen-year-olds. Only 11% of 13-year-old students had mastered skipping, 45% had mastered the overhand throw and less than half could hit a ball consistently.

The article proposes two reasons for this decline in physical and fine motor skills. The first is the loss of informal play which saw children kicking balls, hopping, climbing trees and skipping. The hours spent doing this are now spent “screening”. Children are engrossed for hours on smartphones, IPads and game consoles rather than experiencing the engagement of free play. The second reason posed in the article was the notion that whilst children are still engaged in sporting activities, much of it is structured around the mastery of skills which pertain to that particular sport. Skills like catch-pass, scrummaging and tackling are all vital proficiencies of the modern rugby player but there are no opportunities to develop the balance and motor coordination of skipping.

I applaud the College’s stand on reducing “screening” during school hours, in an attempt to promote social and emotional wellbeing. Laptops, phones and other devices are not to be used outside a classroom during break times. For those students wanting to continue their academics they are welcome to use the library during lunch and before School.

One of the many wonderful aspects of attending our school is the breadth of opportunity provided to all our students.  This is quite the opposite in other schools throughout Australia which are embroiled in an Arms’ Race of competition to win highly coveted “Premierships.”  To be competitive, and to appease the outside influencers and influences, some schools create programs in which students embark upon a level of physical preparation and particular skill honing to a level which can be detrimental to their all-round abilities.  In fact, the Australian Sports Medicine Council suggests that “athletes who maintain a broader sporting base till after the age of twelve, then specialise, are more likely to be ‘successful’ in their chosen sport.  Further investigations also revealed that in fact, there is the risk of early cessation of the sporting activity due to possible burnout and the derivation of less fun from playing the sport. Coincidently, the fun aspect is the initial reason so many participants actually play sport.  To see our students, attend their chosen team sport trainings twice a week in preparation for their weekly fixture, as well as attend Pipes and Drums or Rock Band, Drama or Debating is testament to the importance placed on all round development and the growing of great humans.

Our classroom has been a hive of activity as we immersed ourselves in the meaning of ANZAC Day.  Here are some short excerpts from our boys and girls about what they learned during this time.

The March was good. I had ANZAC biscuits. Dad was in the war. I made a poppy and ANZAC Ted picture.
– Brandon

I think ANZAC is about the soldiers that fought for us and my great grandfather fought in the war.  My and my sister made ANZAC cookies.  I made poppies and I prayed for the soldiers that died for us. I read a story about ANZAC Ted.  ‘Lest We Forget’
– Saani

I said ‘Lest We Forget’.  I saw a parade. Gallipoli men died in the war.  My grandfather fought for our country.  On 25^th April you should remember the soldiers and pray for them.  I liked the Dawn Service and the moment of silence.
– Matthew

ANZAC Day is a day for remember all of the soldiers who died for us.  At school we had ANZAC bikkies.  I was in the Dawn Service.  Some mums and dads died.  We were sad. In the Dawn Service there was a bell.  Afterward we had a hot chocolate for breakfast.  Mrs. Campbell was doing the Choir. On Sunday there was a March in Warwick too. They said, ‘Lest We Forget’.  Some soldiers came back.  The war was all around the world.  We must do a prayer.  It was Tilly’s birthday on ANZAC Day.  Our cousins came over for Tilly’s birthday. We had pancakes.  We love Australia. ‘Lest We Forget’. 
– Scarlett

It is a time of remembering the men and women who died in the war. My grandfather and grandma died in the war with the soldiers.  They fought for our land.  My mum can make fabric poppies.  She made one for me.  It was very cold on ANZAC morning. I was very cold.  I did not go to the March. My B.F.F. was over at my house on ANZAC morning. I didn’t make it to Choir at school for the Dawn Service. My chickens were cold as well. 
– Maddie

My Pop’s friend, he fought for our land.  Some people died and I went marching. I said, ‘Lest We Forget’ and then we went home.  A man read a book.   I saw my grandfather and we read ANZAC Ted. I saw veterans. Pop’s friend died and I went to the war graves and I drew ANZAC Ted and a poppy picture.
– Vinni

ANZAC Day is a very special day.  We remember the people that died in the wars.  Some people use poppies. It is a symbol for ANZAC Day and we have an ANZAC Day Dawn Service every year.  We made a picture of a poppy and we made a picture of ANZAC Ted.  My brother went to the March and Mister Barber read a book called ANZAC Ted. 
– Tommy

I was a Cross Bearer.  I put a cross in the grass.  Soldiers died in the war. Poppies! I drew a poppy. I was sad. 
– Mila

I like ANZAC Day because my mum brought us to the Dawn Service. I went to McDonald’s instead of Dining Hall.  Then we went home and got our bags and jumpers.  We prayer for people who died. ‘Lest We Forget’.
– Reuben

We made poppies and the March was good and I got ANZAC biscuits. My great grandfather died. We do remember the soldiers who died and we read ANZAC Ted and we prayed for ANZAC Day. I drew ANZAC Ted and I drew an ANZAC poppy.
– Harit